Speaking over the ProTV-Chisinau channel on Tuesday night, Urechean stated that exactly the attempts to implant a mayor in such a manner were the reason why the voter turnout was so low. The last Sunday’s election was the ruling Communist Party’s 7th attempt since 1999 to win the Mayor post in Chisinau, and none of them was successful for the Communists.

“I guess Chisinau citizens will be much more active if President Voronin stops interfering into the electoral process. The head of state has an entirely different job to do. It is really not his business to think about street sweeping or public transport organization or the like”, said the MNA leader.

Serafim Urechean voiced disagreement with those who maintain that Chisinau Mayor must necessarily be a politically neutral figure.

“Take President of France Jacques Chirac for an example. Before, he used to be Mayor of Paris, and was a big political figure then. Mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov is an active politician. The same can be said about Romanian President Traian Basescu – a Bucharest Mayor and a politician in the very recent past only. I guess Chisinau should be headed by a politician as well”, said Serafim Urechean.

He said that before the mayoral elections he made several invitations to Acting Mayor Vasile Ursu – who is a MNA member, but whose candidacy was supported by President Voronin and his Communist Party – to come to MNA Board meetings to discuss the pre-election situation.

“However, he refused to. The bait thrown to him by President Voronin was tastier to him. If Ursu were with us, he might well have been Chisinau Mayor by now”, said Serafim Urechean.